Solace
by Moiranne Rose
Summary: Sequel to Multitasking: Dedicated to Dyng Rose. Relaxation comes with doing one thing at a time. Maybe surrounding yourself with many things is blurring your vision. Some form of slash I guess.


**Heyy,**

**So I promised Dyng Rose a sequel and here it is! As said before, this is the sequel to Multitasking, entitled Solace. Initially, I tried to find a name that meant "doing one thing at one time" since that is quite a mouthful, but in the end, I couldn't really do anything better than that title. If you readers have a better idea, please tell me! I personally feel that that is a cheesy title so if you have something, tell me about it okay?**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own these guys, the company of ShinRa, the whole Gaia and many more things, which can include, the computer I'm working on, the idea of a sequel and the liberty of writing this. What I do own is the story plot, my rapidly decreasing sanity and the poem in italics. Read and enjoy! (wait, I don't own that line either...sigh)**_

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_Time we waste,  
Scribbling fancies  
Drawing utopias  
painting futures on glass_

They were flying high above a landscape that spread green all over the area. He looked out of the window, smiling slightly as he listened to Nickelback songs on his forever existent I-pod. He normally could listen and speak, as well as eat, and if the situation demanded, type on a computer at the same time. But there were times he liked to sit back and just enjoy the music, or just listen to the person speaking, or just savour the food, but in the fast-paced life of Midgar and ShinRa, he didn't have that luxury to do what he liked, when he liked, for however long he liked. He didn't have that freedom. But in its loss, he had learned to enjoy them all at the same time, though the enjoyment from each lessened as a result.

He flipped through the songs on his I-pod, relishing the relaxation that passed over him as he settled on a playlist entitled, "Sleep Songs", the type he put on on sleepless nights. Leaning his head back against the helicopter's hard backrest, he viewed the burning barren expanse of land that had been cleared, brutally through slash and burn. He could still see the fires that had burned the plains for days. The fires he set, the ones he didn't put out. He had done many bad things in life. Killed, with no reason, kidnapped, for no purpose, assassinations were everyday things, his life had come a long way, but there was no going back. Somewhere in the background, he could hear Tseng start to talk (or had he been talking before that too?), tapping the "pause" button, he decided to not only put a "pause" on the music, but on these "radical" thoughts as well.

_Time we waste,  
dreaming dreams that don't come true  
making goals that we can't reach  
smiling smiles that never last_

Tseng didn't know if Reno had seen him read that computer screen, which was still imprinted scorchingly in his memory, so vividly black and white and glaringly bright (Reno always put the light contrast too high). He half-hoped not, yet there was some tugging feeling that made him hope that he had. It was all so confusing, and his head ached from the lack of sleep multiplied by tenfold by the lack of coffee. He was so tired, and yet he needed to be so awake. He knew concentration was key to flight in helicopters, especially when you had the oh-so-precious son of the President, Rufus, in the back seat. This was about the only reason he could pilot a helicopter better than Reno. It was all in the undivided attention to the task at hand. No distractions that his subordinate seemed to surround himself with.

Tseng had always found relaxation in taking things one at a time, thinking about _only _the task at hand. Reno seemed to pride himself in being able to juggle at least five things at a time. Why would anyone want to do that? It reduced the full enjoyment derived from diligent work on a single thing. What kind of purpose did that serve?

Checking the time on the clock on the dashboard, plus checking the coordinates of the helicopter in relation to the destination, he concluded that if he were to start landing in a span of a few minutes, he should be able to maneuver the helicopter into the designated helipad, no complications. He informed Rufus and Reno of the descent, though he wasn't so sure if Reno was multitasking and if hearing what his superior had to say was on his list.

_Time we waste,  
thinking this will go on forever  
believing we are immortal  
ignoring the realities_

It was fairly easy, accompanying Rufus around the make reactor. Wasn't the most interesting of tasks, but a cleverly covered earpiece snaking just underneath his ponytail (he applauded himself with his ingenuity), under his jacket, all the way to his pocket where the clever little device lay hidden, covered by his customary hand-in-the-pocket, helped a great deal. With only one earpiece, it meant he had the best of both worlds, enough music if there was no one saying anything interesting, and if anyone said anything important, then at least he wouldn't be missing out.

Now, between shifts (Rufus, unlike his bodyguards, did not have the ability, or the mako, to keep himself awake after 10pm), he found himself on a cliff overlooking some gorge that had been long burnt to charred remains by the effective fires that cleared the land for industrial use. He had a cigarette hanging out from his mouth, but not really tasting it. He was humming some song to the beat from the MP3 player while he leaned against the firm bark of a dying oak tree. In his "activities", for once, he missed the footsteps from behind and the sudden appearance of someone he didn't really want to see, yet welcomed too.

_Time we waste,  
fantasising miracles  
a world with no blood  
no war, no death_

He knew he'd find him there. And there he was, inhaling some ghastly substance from a cigarette, humming some rock song he couldn't place the tune of (if there was a tune) and leaning nearly his whole weight against the trunk of the tree shading him. It was just after dark, his cigarette about the only light for a few miles (new decrees during the "war" had made it such that only the mako reactor could produce light after dark, all villages were blacked out). His red hair blackened by the night sky and he was immersed in his own world. As much as he wanted to leave Reno to enjoy his evening before the next day's schedule, he knew this private time was about as much as he could get to talk about what had happened that morning.

He walked over, silent as Turks went, and stood next to the tree, not leaning on it, but next to it, surveying the same black sky with black clouds and no moon that Reno was looking at. In a strange déjà vu, Reno noticed his boss, and sprang from his place, dislodging one earpiece in the process. He cursed a string of choice words and fumbled around with the long wires, while fishing in his pocket for the MP3 player that he paused.

_Time we waste  
trying to believe  
Love can cure all ailments  
heal all pain  
when it simply adds more_

He hadn't expected his superior to follow him all the way up the mountain to the cliff he was on. It was, secluded, to say the least, one of the few places he felt happy enough to take out his pad of writing paper and write something. Normally he waited for inspiration to come and smack him in his face. But now, it was different. He itched for paper, pens, pencils, but he kept forgetting them. Also, he had found that saving them in his security locked computer was safer than on paper (his last notebook had been snitched by Rude for a few days, it was quite embarrassing).

Pausing his playlist, he removed the earpieces from his ears and turned to his boss, expecting some reminder of a forgotten late night escapade that didn't involve fun things like 1) MP3 players, 2) Pubs, 3) Teasing Rufus/Tseng, 4) Teasing them both or even 5) Being in a helicopter. Anything other than that meant immersing himself behind a façade of false grins and nods and inward brooding.

He hadn't expected his boss to do anything like what he did. But as he found out, it had just as welcomed effects as any of the above mentioned things put together.

_Time we waste,  
stepping around the truth,  
trying to conceal our secrets,  
fear mixed with embarrassment._

"Reno." He started, and then fell silent, now leaning against the tree perpendicular to his subordinate's form. He felt the rustle as he turned to face him, and in the gloom, he could envision the raised eyebrow. His heart was pounding harder than it should have, but he knew he no longer had power over his body if he was anywhere close to this particular redhead.

"I…" He cursed his rapidly decreasing courage. Why couldn't he say it?

"I know."

Two words that made the world both crash and seem brighter. Whichever way he meant it, Tseng suddenly felt like his whole sanity was clinging to it.

"Why did you?" A question compressed so it wouldn't show his hurt, or his anger, though they were probably visible in his eyes, covered by the dusk.

"I…couldn't help it." It was the truth. He couldn't have torn his eyes away from that screen, even if it had been a report, it was too glaringly bright _not_ to notice.

"Forget what it said." His attention had already changed to the moonless sky. Tseng thought he detected some kind of light embarrassment, his face seemed flushed, but he didn't know if it was because of the flame or his discomfort.

"No." How could he forget it? It had given him some kind of hope, that maybe, maybe, someone could have cared for him, a person, no, a ShinRa _lapdog_, who was so broken and so whole at the same time.

Reno didn't speak. And Tseng didn't know what to think.

_Time we waste,  
under the shade of trees  
in each other's arms  
tracing paths of shooting stars_

What did Tseng mean? Did he feel the same? Reno didn't want to get his hopes up, or flatter himself with that possibility. He had had others before, women, but no one had him so scared, or so hopeful, that they returned his feelings. Most of those times, he hadn't cared. Now, he cared so much that he couldn't make sense of anything.

Then there was this split second, where he was putting on one earpiece, looking over, and then their eyes met, glowing black with bright green, and then, he didn't know what happened. Maybe there was a second of absolute comprehension, or maybe it was all that frustration and confusion had been solved, or maybe it was the impossible clarity of emotions within their mako eyes, but he didn't think much of anything. All he knew was that, he moved, and Tseng moved, and then just like that, they reached and touched heaven together.

The earpiece fell from his hands, as they wrapped themselves round Tseng's waist. And there was clashing of mouths, tongues and teeth, and insistent fingers in his hair. And thoughts that whooshed through their minds, please and yes and why didn't I ever do this before and Tseng drinks tea? and oh gosh and _finally. _After that, it was no more thinking, no more words to describe it, because at that point, Reno found out that, there were times, where focusing on a single thing, seemed the most viable option, than distracting himself with anything else.

_Time we waste,  
is probably the only time we'll remember._

The next day's sun woke the two up from their slumber under the tree. Tseng's seemed to open suddenly, abruptly and with no yawns or anything. Reno's was slower, yawning, stretching and running his hand through his hair. Tseng looked over at his subordinate-now-lover and moved his hand to his mane of red hair, providing the hairtie that had slipped off the night before. Reno, for once, silently pulled his hair into a ponytail and smilingly met Tseng's gaze. It was softer than he had ever seen his superior look at him, and somehow, more loving and understanding than any of his other lovers had looked before. And it was the first time, Reno finally knew the happiness in enjoying one simple thing at a time. It wasn't the hectic five-things-at-once. It was somehow relaxing and filled him with solace that mirrored in Tseng's eyes. Had he made the same conclusion?

Then a PHS rang. And they moved to get up, their hands finding each others'.

It was at that point, as they got up, they felt a resistance that prevented them from moving further apart from each other. They looked down and realized, that somewhere during their gazing at the stars, one earpiece had found its way to either one of their ears.

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**A/N: Over here, I am NOT implying they engaged in ahemcoughwrongcoughahem activities during the night. You can choose to interpret it that way, or just that they were enjoying each others' company. And to tell you the truth, I actually liked how this one came out. And the poem is also mine BTW. And this was dedicated to Dyng Rose for inspiring this. Thanks a lot.**

**Lotsa Love,**

**Moiranne Rose**

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